


The Bright Line

by Tarlan



Category: Primeval: New World
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: smallfandomfest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 19:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/853015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evan knew from the moment he stepped back through the anomaly that something had changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bright Line

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SmallFandomFest FEST13 - 2013

Just as he feared, Evan knew from the moment he stepped back through the anomaly with Dylan that something had changed because the mayhem he had left on this side of the anomaly, back in their version of the present, was missing. In its place was order instead of chaos, and Colonel Hall seemed different as he approached Evan with something akin to relief in his eyes.

"Glad you made it back, Doctor Cross. We were starting to worry about you."

Evan nodded, hoping his reaction to being called ' _Doctor_ ' was not as obvious as Dylan's look of confusion. He didn't have to think too hard to imagine where this version of reality had deviated from the one he had left only a short time ago. He remembered the day all too clearly when he had looked at the coveted acceptance letter from Cambridge in England and weighed that up against the new relationship he had started with the prettiest girl in the world. In the reality he had left behind, he had chosen Brooke over Cambridge, not wanting to be parted from her by the width of the Atlantic Ocean, but in this reality he must have accepted the prestigious opportunity.

Perhaps they had never met. Perhaps she was still alive somewhere in this new world. Or perhaps she had never lived.

"Are you okay, Doctor Cross?"

Evan nodded at Hall even though he felt physically sick, recalling how he had been so determined to let Brooke die even though it tore him up inside, knowing his actions in trying to save her could change the future. He had already meddled once by seeking out the soldier who had saved his life that day, believing he was saving Mac from his fate only to discover that he'd merely set in motion the events that would take Mac's life. He had made that future for Mac. It hurt worse to know that the man who had become his friend was also the stranger in the freezer.

"Doctor Cross?"

"I'm... fine. It was just..."

"Evan!"

His head whipped round at a familiar voice and Evan froze as strong arms wrapped around him, holding him a crushing embrace. He felt lips press against his cheek as a voice whispered raggedly.

"I thought I'd lost you."

Evan pulled back and stared at Howard Kanan, seeing a different man to the one who had walked backwards into an anomaly, crossing what he had called _the bright line_ separating one time period from another. This Howard didn't seem to have that unstable, manic edge of a man who had spent too many years alone and living off nutrient bars and drinks instead of real food. His eyes were soft with relief and with another emotion that Evan refused to name, and yet he hated seeing confusion replace that unnamed emotion.

"Evan?"

"Albertosaurus," he stated softly.

"The one that nearly killed us a few years back?" Howard was holding him at arms' length now, his blue eyes looking deep into Evan's.

"Us?"

"At Kanan-Cross Photonics." Howard frowned some more. "We picked up the signal and went to investigate the empty building. Our first anomaly." He grinned. "And I nearly got eaten when it came up behind us suddenly."

Evan swallowed. "Yeah. That Albertosaurus."

In his timeline it had been Brooke with him, and he had watched the Albertosaurus snatch her up in its jaws and almost sever her body in one bite. Then it had come for him, and Mac had saved him, losing his life in the process.

"Mac," he choked out, and saw something akin to realization sweep through Howard's expressive eyes.

"Evan." His voice was ragged with emotion. "He saved us both that day, because I don't think I could have survived without you. You're my... whole life, Evan."

Evan didn't flinch when Howard reeled him back in, holding him tight again, because he had the brutal memory of this man teetering on the edge of sanity after losing someone he had loved deeply - though to cancer rather than the snap of a Albertosaurus's jaws. Instead, Evan wrapped his arms around Howard in turn, knowing he had wronged this man in another reality by stealing his research into Photonics from the future just so he could sell it for enough money to cover the cost of studying the anomalies that had let through the creature that had killed Brooke. Yet, despite that, Howard had shared his brilliance with him, helping him to fix the broken anomaly tracker and even enhancing it to give them an accurate idea of how long each anomaly would stay open. Evan held him tight because he had seen that fractured man take a step back into the unknown wearing only the clothes on his back and armed only with the upgraded anomaly detector.

Nothing had changed. Or at least, nothing had seemed to change following Howard's disappearance, leaving Evan with only the sorrow of believing Howard had died back in past before affecting anything. The thought had haunted him ever since, and he had blamed himself for seeing that bright light snuffed out from this world, all too aware from that short time spent together in Howard's lab that they could have been friends as well as colleagues. Howard had understood him from the beginning, following his reasoning and going a step further, their thoughts and theories and postulations firing rapidly like two people so in tune that they completed each other's sentences.

They could have been friends.

They _were_ friends in this reality, and if the soft yet desperate kiss against his temple was anything to go by then they were more than friends here and now; they were lovers too.

Evan thought that would shock him but he'd never felt uncomfortable with the idea of being with a guy. If anything, he had wondered about it often before his chance meeting with Brooke changed his life and focus onto only her. He'd felt a stirring of interest for both Angie and Dylan, but as beautiful and amazing as they were each in their own way, the all consuming passion that he had felt for Brooke was missing. Angie had wanted more than he could give, and that was why she had given up on him when she realized they could only ever be friends with benefits. Eventually, Dylan would have realized the same.

Looking back, Evan knew he had felt the first stirrings of that similar, all-consuming passion for Howard as they bounced ideas off each other in Howard's lab just a few weeks ago in Evan's memory; only to see any chance lost when Howard stepped across the bright line separating this time from the distant past. Part of him wondered what would have happened if he had managed to stop Howard, and he couldn't help but believe that they would have gravitated towards each other, first in their research and joint love of science, and might eventually have taken it that additional step into something greater still.

He closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of this man; clean sweat and a hint of expensive aftershave. Howard's cheek was slightly roughened with a day's growth of bristles, and it felt so good against his own cheek.

Evan could sense Dylan watching him in barely concealed shock as Colonel Hall led her away, but the seed of passion that had stirred all those weeks ago was growing rapidly as Howard nuzzled his cheek against Evan's.

 _I could fall in love with you so easily_ , Evan thought, only to realize that perhaps he had always been a little in love with this man from the first time they crossed swords during Howard's law suit against him. The fire and the passion, the brilliance and the beauty shone, even through the fractures of a broken man, and seeing Howard now, whole in mind and lost only in him, Evan knew there was no ' _could_ ' about it.

He had a whole new past to uncover, envious of his other self who had lived those moments of discovery with Howard, yet determined that he would make new memories for both of them from this moment onwards.

He had crossed the bright line, and this new future shone with a far greater intensity than the one he had left behind.

END


End file.
